It passed through the House of Lords on Tuesday February 26th. Once the Queen has given her assent the bill becomes law. The law is expected to become operative by May 21st this year, according to unconfirmed reports reaching the Island Sun.

“I expect that any day now, communication will come saying when it is coming into operation,” Chief Minister the Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal said during a recent press conference.

The British Overseas Territories Bill, which will make acquisition of such citizenship possible, was in the works since 1998 and stemming from that was a White Paper on a remodelled relationship between the U.K. and its Territories. That bill has been moving through various stages of the British Parliament.

With the coming into force of the Bill, BVIslanders and other citizens of the renamed Overseas Territories, could get British passports. Reports are that the UK government is working towards a June 2002 timetable to set up the arrangements.

This pending law will not make it mandatory for BV Islanders to get a British passport. The BVI government has said it will be up to the individual whether they would want to apply or not. With a British passport, citizens of Overseas Territories would be able to, among other things, live and work in the U.K. and the European Union without any restrictions.

This change in the British law will apply to just under 250 thousand persons spread throughout the British Overseas Territories. There are 14 remaining British Overseas Territories in the world - Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Helena Dependencies (Ascension, Tristan da Cunha); South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In most Overseas Territories, there is considerable self-government, with a legislature and civil service. Britain has responsibility for defence, internal security and foreign relations. British policy is to give independence to those Overseas Territories that want it and not to force it on those that do not.